"Of the 5000 plus members of the LDWA about 200 attend the AGM and the rest of us have to rely on the minutes to tell us who our new committee is, what decisions (if any) have been made and what topics of interest were discussed. On an individual level I would like to know and as a local group committee member who has a meeting in 2 weeks time when we hoped to consider the minutes their absence is pretty inconvenient"

I have to question why more Groups don't attend our AGM if it is suddenly so important to get the minutes. You need the minutes you could come to the meeting.

I thought it was a similarly light hearted reply. The minutes were approved at the National Committee meeting on Saturday 20th April and Simon Leck is to put them on the website on Tuesday as he is attending the LDWA Internet sub-committee today. Maybe the NEC should review procedures on producing, agreeing and circulating the minutes.

I thought if I posted something light hearted and uncritical I might get a reply along the lines – “They have just been put on the website” or maybe “Will have them sorted next week”. Didn’t expect – “we are all too busy and they don’t matter anyway”. Of the 5000 plus members of the LDWA about 200 attend the AGM and the rest of us have to rely on the minutes to tell us who our new committee is, what decisions (if any) have been made and what topics of interest were discussed. On an individual level I would like to know and as a local group committee member who has a meeting in 2 weeks time when we hoped to consider the minutes their absence is pretty inconvenient. As a seasoned minute taker I know that they are tedious to produce but the longer the delay the less accurate the record and the less relevant the content. I rather hoped for a more constructive response.

I was tempted to say that our AGM minutes have less impact on life threatening circumstances than the Shipping Forecast but then again, do mariners rely on the latter any longer? it seems just a Radio 4 quirky prog to give the Home Counties a bit of feelgood. Seriously, the folks getting the minutes out have had other pressing matters on which to concentrate.

How do you define "soon"
The AGM minutes have been "coming soon" for about 6 weeks now.
"Expected soon" in the shipping forecast means 6 - 12 hours - but I suppose we are a little more laid back than mariners.